Cross-Correlation of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the 2MASS Galaxy Survey: Signatures of Dark Energy, Hot Gas, and Point Sources

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  • 17 August 2003
Abstract
We cross-correlate the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies observed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) with the projected distribution of extended sources in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). By modelling the theoretical expectation for this signal, we extract the signatures of dark energy (Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect;ISW), hot gas (thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect;thermal SZ), and microwave point sources in the cross-correlation. Our strongest signal is the thermal SZ, at the 3.1-3.7 \sigma level, which is at least 40% (2\sigma) smaller than the theoretical prediction. We also see the ISW signal at the 2.5\sigma level, which is consistent with the expected value for the concordance LCDM cosmology, and is an independent signature of the presence of dark energy in the universe. Finally, we see a signature for the microwave point sources at the 2.7\sigma level.

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